Help and advice

The DfE has recently made changes to the subject content, which introduces an explicit requirement for GCSE, AS and A level drama specifications to: “require students to experience live performance, where they are a member of the audience in the same performance space as the performers.

Schools subscribing to FFT now have access to a full national analysis of their 2017 KS4 results. This year's reports include Attainment 8, Progress 8 and the new DfE 9-1 point score measures, together with results re-calculated from previous years.

Modern Language Assistants (MLAs) bring authentic language and culture to the classroom. In a recent survey of host schools, heads of modern languages reported improved exam results, raising standards in under-performing students and motivating talented students to achieve more.

£100 million of revenue generated from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy will be used for the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund (HPCF). This fund is intended to improve children’s and young people’s physical and mental health by enhancing access to facilities such as dining facilities and sports facilities.

The National STEM Learning Network offers a unique STEM Insight programme for staff in schools and colleges to experience STEM-related work in industrial or university settings. Candidates take part in a placement, supported by face-to-face and online CPD.

A number of members have raised concerns about the marking of the Key Stage 2 spelling, punctuation and grammar papers, particularly Paper 1 Question 2, which asked children to insert a semi-colon in the correct place in a sentence.

Key Stage 2 data is now available in ASP (the replacement service to RAISEonline) – this is provisional data for 2016/17. CLA data is not currently available, therefore breakdowns of data have not been published; this will be added at the end of October along with KS1 and Phonics data for 2017.

The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) believes that teachers play an important role in helping to shape children’s food understanding so it has launched a free online course on teaching food in primary school.

Ofsted’s consultation on Short inspections of good schools closes at 11.30pm, 18 August 2017.
The consultation seeks your views on proposals for changes to the short inspection approach for good maintained schools and academies from October 2017.

Following publication yesterday of this year's GCSE results, it has become apparent there is some confusion regarding the requirement and eligibility for resits for English. ASCL has therefore been in direct contact with Ofqual and the DfE to clarify this matter.

Public Health England (PHE) has launched Rise Above for Schools, providing new PSHE resources to support secondary school teachers when promoting positive health, wellbeing and resilience among young people aged 11 to 16.

The test is taking place in over 300 secondary schools from 20 February to 3 March. Ofqual welcomes any feedback from our members on the arrangements that were made for the test and its administration in schools on the day of the test.

The BBC is offering as many as a thousand schools mentoring in person, online, or at group events from BBC journalists – including some familiar faces like Huw Edwards, Tina Daheley, Nikki Fox, Kamal Ahmed and Amol Rajan.

UCAS has produced a useful guide to qualification reforms in the UK. The guide is intended to provide a high-level overview of what is happening throughout the UK for HE providers, teachers and advisers.

Free school library or special school library packs are offered as part of the Book Trust’s reading for pleasure programmes that offer children a variety of books to inspire them to read for fun. Sign-ups operate on a first come first serve basis and registration closes on Friday 22 December.

ASCL along with ALL (Association for Language Learning), ISMLA (Independent Schools Modern Language Association) and HMC (Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference), wrote to the Chair of Ofqual to raise concerns regarding the severe grading of modern foreign languages (MFL) at GCSE and A level.

Last week, the government published a wide ranging consultation on the future of primary assessment in England. The consultation includes a number of significant proposals and ASCL Primary Specialist Julie McCulloch worked closely with the DfE to shape this consultation.

Ofqual has announced that schools and colleges in England will in future have a second opportunity to challenge GCSE, AS level, A level and project results if they continue to have concerns about marking or moderation errors.

There are a number of technical awards, which have not been approved for league table points, in the latest update of qualifications counting in the 2019 performance tables. The list was released at the beginning of September.

From September 2019, government legislation requires all secondary schools to teach Relationships and Sex Education (RSE or SRE). DO… collaboration, a group of leading RSE organisations and experts, has created a programme of free teaching resources for secondary schools.

JCQ and its awarding body members (AQA, CCEA, OCR, Pearson and WJEC) have issued a reminder to centres that candidates must now be informed of their centre assessed marks (for example EPQ) so that they may request a review of the centre’s marking before marks are submitted to the awarding body.

The Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge in Schools (ASK) project offers a range of inspirational and engaging apprenticeship and traineeship support to all learning establishments offering provision to Years 10 to 13.